Interest in iGaming is expanding in various states but two states are considering it seriously.
A task force to study the possibility of internet gaming has been designated by the Mississippi House Gaming Committee. Chair Richard Bennett said he would like a neutral study for sports betting and online gaming. Mississippi has traditionally shied away from internet gaming in the past. Legislation has been introduced two separate times. The first was from Rep. Bobby Moak in 2012. The bill died. Moak attempted another bill, which also died.
Heading up the task force is Mississippi Gaming Commission Executive Director Allen Godfrey. He said the group will study the three states which allow online gaming—New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada. The task force will also look at problem and underage gaming. Godfrey said it is not the group’s responsibility to make recommendations for new legislation regarding online gaming. The group is simply gathering data for the gaming commission.
Also chosen for the task force were Larry Gregory, former director of the commission; Dorothy Loggins from the state’s council on problem gaming; Craig Orgeron of the state’s information technology department; Catherine Price, a professor who lectures on casino, hospitality and tourism management; Jan Craig, associate commissioner for the state’s department of revenue; Jason Pugh, a vice president at Gulf Coast Community College; and Attorney Michael Bruffey.
The task force is scheduled to meet in May during the Southern Gaming Summit. Bennett would like results by the end of the year.
Currently, only four states in the nation offer sports betting because of a federal ruling. Oregon, Nevada, Montana and Delaware are operating under a 1992 law. New Jersey has attempted to challenge the rule, but an appeals court upheld the decision.
In Pennsylvania, proponents of legalizing online gambling got some bad news recently as several key GOP state leaders—including Governor Tom Corbett—said there isn’t much interest in Harrisburg to move on the idea.
Pennsylvania State House Spokesman Stephen Miskin was quoted as saying “I’m not sure there’s a whole lot of support in our caucus right now for it.”
Republican Governor Tom Corbett is pushing for an expansion of gambling in the state, but that move is focused on introducing small games of chance at taverns and bars. Still, the state did authorize a study to determine the impact online gambling and online poker would have on the state.
But Jay Pagni, a spokesman for the governor told reporters that Corbett isn’t likely to push for online gambling.
“The governor would be reluctant to have wholesale expansion of online gaming, or even something like online poker,” Pagni said. “Online gaming presents issues associated with access. It could be used by individuals that, by law, should not be allowed to play, and those can include minors. The governor’s goal, when he announced small games, was, ‘We need to look at this in a measured fashion and ensure that safeguards are in place.”
The findings of the study are due to be introduced next month.
But support for iGaming in PA is weak.
The Pennsylvania Legislative Budget and Finance Committee has been examining the prospect of legal iGaming in the state since last November, in reaction to the legalization of internet casinos in neighboring states New Jersey and Delaware. At the time, lawmakers said they were looking into iGaming as a way to protect revenues and taxes from the state’s 12 land-based casinos, which have generated around $6 billion in tax revenue since the first opened in 2006.
Regardless of the results of next month’s report, the votes may not be there for iGaming. Last week, Stephen Miskin, spokesman for the House-majority Republican Party, said of legalizing internet gaming, “I’m not sure there’s a whole lot of support in our caucus right now for it.”
On the same day, according to the website compatiblepoker.com, Corbett spokesman Jay Pagni said, “The governor would be reluctant to have wholesale expansion of online gaming, or even something like online poker. Online gaming presents issues associated with access. It could be used by individuals that, by law, should not be allowed to play, and those can include minors. The governor’s goal, when he announced small games (of chance, now legal in bars and clubs), was, ‘We need to look at this in a measured fashion and ensure that safeguards are in place.”
The governor’s support of expanded gaming has been restricted to signing the bill into law last year to allow the games of chance—including raffles, pull-tabs and sweepstakes—in bars, taverns and private clubs, and authorizing the state lottery to launch keno. Corbett also has tried, unsuccessfully so far, to privatize the state lottery as a means to bring in more gambling revenue.
Many lawmakers in the state remain opposed to any expansion of gambling, and to internet gaming in particular. One bill before the House would impose a specific ban on any online gambling.
